7 NPA rebels die in firefight with gov't troops in Antique
ROLEX ALVERO ELMIDO
ILOILO CITY — Seven alleged ranking leaders of the New People’s ArmyKomiteng Rehiyon Panay (NPA-KRP) were killed following an encounter with government troops shortly after midnight on Wednesday at San Jose, Antique.
The firefight, which lasted for about 30 minutes, took place after members of the San Jose Police Station, the Antique Provincial Mobile Force Company, and the Philippine Army’s 301st Infantry Brigade Intelligence Task Group were to serve an arrest warrant against two rebels.
Superintendent Mark Anthony Darroca, San Jose police chief, said the subjects of the warrant of arrest were Jason Talibo, alias Bebe, and Joven Ceralvo, alias Lex.
Talibo was charged for frustrated murder before the Regional Trial Court-Branch 67 in Guimbal, Iloilo, while Ceralvo is also facing a case at the same court, for rebellion along with Robert Buencochillo and Mary Joy Calapardo, among others.
The government operatives apparently tracked the rebels to an abandoned place at Barangay Atabay late evening of Tuesday. But it was around 12:10 a.m. of Wednesday when police and military operatives engaged eight NPA rebels in a gunbattle.
When the smoke was cleared, seven bodies were found, but one had survived and escaped. Almost all parts of the abandoned house was tainted in blood, except for the areas near the kitchen and the comfort room. Residents claimed the place was uninhabited until about a month ago when they saw a number of persons going in and out of the house.
Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao, director of the Police Regional Office-6 (Western Visayas), identified the slain rebels as Talibo himself, Liezel Bandiola, Jason Sanchez, Karen Ceralvo, Felix Salditos, and Rene Yap.
The 7th fatality remains unidentified, as of this writing, while the one who escaped was identified as Ceralvo.
Colonel Benedict Arevalo, 301st IBde commander, said Talibo, 27, of Igbaras town in Iloilo was the finance officer of the KRP’s Southern Front Committee while Sanchez, 28, of Tubungan in Iloilo was the assistant finance officer of the NPA’s Regional Taxation Implementation Group (RTIG).
Bandiola alias Mayang, who was from Nabas,Aklan, was the NPARTIG’s cultural staff while Ceralvo alias Liway is Joven Ceralvo’s first wife and was designated as educational functional staff and RTIG member.
Karen, 41, was from Vizcara Subdivision in Kalibo, Aklan; Salditos, 59, was from Ilog, Negros Occidental; and Yap, 60, was from Poblacion, Leganes, Iloilo.
Recovered from the crime scene were three hand grenades, two 40mm ammunition, two rifle grenades, a homemade single-shot 12-gauge shotgun, two homemade .38-caliber revolvers, a homemade KJ9 pistol, three magazines of KJ9, and two empty magazines of an undetermined firearm.
Also seized were two laptops (MacBook Pro and Lenovo), a netbook, 22 analog mobile phones, seven android phones, five tablets, a Canon DSLR camera, five Canon DSLR spare batteries, two pocket WiFis, a power bank, three SD cards, a USB, 22 assorted SIM cards, three transistor radios, four disposable lighters, four watches, 14 assorted mobile phone chargers, four headsets, a keyboard, assorted wires, and a bolo.
Also recovered were personal identification cards, several extortion letters signed by Ariston Remus of the Napoleon Tomagtang Command of the NPA-KRP’s Southern Front Committee, personal notebooks, list of persons and companies that were allegedly extorted, bank books, and ATM cards.
Police and military also recovered assorted medicines, white envelopes, P34,601 cash, eight backpacks, and a Honda motorcycle.
Bulalacao said intelligence personnel monitored the group to be hiding in the area some three were ago. "Based on information received by intelligence community, the group is plotting more extortion activities in San Jose, Antique,” he added.
The group decided to put up a fight with the government operatives, Bulalacao said. “Our men have no recourse but to defend themselves resulting in the death of the alleged NPAs,” he added.
It was just on Tuesday when Arevalo emphasized that the government forces in Panay will address extortion activities of the NPA terrorists to contractors of development infrastructure projects and the political candidates of the upcoming elections.
“This accomplishment is a result of the close coordination, cooperation and collaboration between the AFP and the PNP in Panay,” Arevalo said.
Because of this development, Bulalacao ordered police stations in Western Visayas to beef up their security and prevent the NPAs from launching retaliatory attacks.
“The PNP will use its resources to defend the communities particularly the remote municipalities and business owners who are continuously victimized through extortion activities by this group,” he added.